AACN Applauds the President's FY 2010 Budget Request
President Proposes to Increase Funding for Nurse Loan Repayment and Scholarship Programs from $37 Million to $125 Million
WASHINGTON, DC,... Read More

There should be programs that allow individuals to pay for their education ie. masters in nursing if they make a commitment to be an instructor for x number of years...I agree, we need more instructors but need to pay them comprable salaries.

I think the idea is great however it appears that there is no nursing shortage. Tons of new grads are posting how they can't get jobs. Perhaps a better approach would be to make nursing a more attractive profession with better working conditions.

Nurses will continue to leave bed side nursing until changes are made in the staff to pt ratio !A bed side nurse is not able to practise nursing the way we are taught is prudent .As nurses we need to come together and make our voices heard on this to the public and our government.

Is there anyone here who can speak authoritatively as to the working conditions of nurses overseas, specifically: average pay per hour, hours per week, RN/pt ratios, hours spent documenting daily, and litigation. And perhaps current shortages?

Rather than increase funding for loan repayment and scholarship programs, I think it would be more effective to provide funding to hospitals to subsidize the cost of training new graduates.

From the new-grad trenches, there's no shortage of newly minted nurses rolling off the lines every semester. There is, however, a dearth of positions for them step into because the hospitals don't want to spend the time and money to train the new grads. Nearly every job I come across requires experience. Where are all those experienced nurses to come from if we don't let the new grads in the door? Oh yeah, I remember... offshore.

The problem, Mr. President, is not a lack of training facilities nor a lack of their graduates... the problem is the scarcity of jobs into which those graduates might enter.

Is there anyone here who can speak authoritatively as to the working conditions of nurses overseas, specifically: average pay per hour, hours per week, RN/pt ratios, hours spent documenting daily, and litigation. And perhaps current shortages?

By "overseas" do you mean England... or China? The Philippines or Australia? India or France?

By "overseas" do you mean England... or China? The Philippines or Australia? India or France?

"Overseas" is a very, very diverse place...

Hmmm. How about this: any country that trains and uses nurses in a similar fashion to the USA. So Canada and England I would imagine off the top of my head would work. The truth is I really have very little knowledge about nursing outside of the USA and wonder what other countries might teach us.

There should be programs that allow individuals to pay for their education ie. masters in nursing if they make a commitment to be an instructor for x number of years...I agree, we need more instructors but need to pay them comprable salaries.

There was a program just like that in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, it was discontinued last year...

What about a standardized nurse residency for 1-2 years like doctors have? Crappy pay but a commitment by the institution to make it an educational experience. This would take a lot of infrastructure to set up, so it would help to get the support at the federal level.

An unpopular proposal and I will get slammed for this, but increase the number of men in nursing would be one way for change. Also, I just watched "Mean Girls" last night and there was alot of truth in what I saw. Much of what is wrong with nursing is the culture; it has allowed the corporations to maintain an upperhand for as long as I can remember. Nurses must accept some responsibility and take positive steps for change.

It is no secret that much of the power in corporate US is held by men. The situation in Iceland is making some people think that perhaps a better balance is needed. The current financial situation of the world shows that there are fundamental problems in the corporate/business world. Perhaps doing something very different will yield very different results.

Perhaps if nurses held those above them in the hierarchy responsible, then things would change. I, for instance, have never heard one of my colleagues say to a supervisor, "This situation is bad and I will make sure that if I go down, you go down." I've said it a few times and the response I get is usually my colleagues gazing at their feet. Anyone in management who has RN behind their name, is just as much responsible as we are as long as they have been made aware of the situation( in theory).

But guess what, they wouldn't be managers if they were very sympathetic and have you ever heard of a nurse manager/supervisor being reported to the board for making unsafe decisions? I haven't.

My point here is that this loan thing has been done before. The chicken little thing has been done before. The recession thing has happened before. One good thing about not retaining nurses is that there is no long term memory, so there need not be a long term solution. The "Watch me pull a rabbitt out of my hat" routine just gets recycled.

The money should go to new grad residency programs in hospitals. That is where it is most needed. Also, the title states that he has PROPOSED this money. Many times our 'leaders' propose money for something and it makes headlines, blah blah blah but nothing ever comes of it.

i would be a person to benefit from this program by Pres. Obama. I have a BSN and MSN degree totaling 80K. i am drowing in student loans. i have applied for the nursing education loan repayment program and been turned away because there were nurses who had a higher debt than i did.

some may argue that this is my problem so i need to deal with it. i do i work 2 nursing jobs to manage this montly student loan payment. but the rising cost of education is a deterant from getting a 4 yr nursing degree or a masters degree. some may also say my case is rare but i have come across many nurses with advanced degrees in the same situation that i am in.

i at least have hope that with this new funding others will not have to suffer as i have.